Pirates of the Caribbean: the Return of the Cursed
by whalerider
Summary: ON HIATUS WHILE I WORK ON 'TWISTS OF FATE'btw, does anyone know anamaria's last name?REVIEWS STIll ACCEPTED!


Chapter One: Meetings of Chance  
  
_She stood on the moonlit beach, the soft, warm breeze of the Caribbean blowing her dark brown hair back from her hazel eyes. Humming a pirate song, she fingered a golden coin moulded with the shape of a skull. The bottom half of the coin was coated in old blood, the remnants of a broken curse.  
  
Hearing footsteps in the sand behind her, the child turned to see a grey-bearded man leaning on the hilt of a rusty sword, a hat cocked to one side of his head. "You'll be givin' that to me now, girlie."   
  
Backing into the wavelets, the girl shook her head. "You're a ghost. Jack Sparrow killed you fifteen years ago, the same day my father broke the curse."  
  
"Ghost, am I? Come now, child. If I were a ghost, could I do this?" Captain Barbossa stepped out of the shadows of the palm trees and into the moonlight, his skin melting away.   
  
The young girl screamed as skeletal fingers fastened around her throat, shoving her into the shallow water. She flailed as air leaked from her mouth and nose to be replaced by the ocean. She felt a bony hand tear the coin from her fist, then sank deeper and deeper into the sea.  
  
Blinking against the salty water, the girl spied a man chained to a cannon by his ankles. He raised his head, looking utterly forlorn and melancholy. "He killed me," the man murmured to himself. "Twenty-nine years ago I was thrown into these depths, and my son broke the curse, only to have me die." The girl screamed-  
_  
Katheryne Elizabeth Turner jerked awake, clawing at the sheets tangled around her. "Mummy! Daddy! Help!"  
  
Will Turner rushed into his daughter's cabin aboard the _Bootstrap Bill_, his wife, Elizabeth, hot on his heels. "What? What is it?" He sat down on the bed, hugging his younger child, who was now sobbing and shaking uncontrollably.  
  
As Elizabeth lit an oil lamp, Katheryne managed to hiccough out her dream. "He tried to kill me, and then, he got the coin, and then, I saw Grandpa in the ocean, and then…" Her voice trailed off into shivering and crying.  
  
Elizabeth frowned. "Who tried to kill you?"  
  
"Captain Barbossa took the Aztec coin that Grandpa gave Daddy," the girl wailed. "He turned into a skeleton and killed me!"  
  
Elizabeth's frown of confusion turned into one of sourness directed at her husband. "William Turner!" she exclaimed.  
  
Will looked up innocently. "What?"  
  
"You know perfectly well what! You told her the story of the curse before bedtime again, didn't you?"  
  
"So?"  
  
"At her age and right before bed? Kat doesn't need to hear stories like that, not yet! She's only nine, for heaven's sake!"  
  
"Well, if it wasn't for me, you'd be dead, and the curse wouldn't be just a scary legend!"  
  
"If it hadn't been for me, you would still be floating on that raft in the middle of nowhere!" Elizabeth muttered, tucking her daughter into bed.  
  
Kat squirmed nervously under her blankets. "Daddy didn't tell me that you saved him!"   
  
Will grimaced. "I was out cold when your mother found me. Besides, we were both your age when that happened. You don't really expect us to remember every little detail, do you?"  
  
Katheryne shut her eyes. "I guess not," she yawned.  
  
Elizabeth rounded on her husband. "So, this is your idea of a bedtime story? Sometimes I wonder why I ever married you, pirate."  
  
"Former pirate, love, and I prefer to be called a blacksmith." Just then, thunder crashed and lightning split the night outside of the windows. The floor shuddered beneath Will's feet, and he stood. "I'd better go see what's amiss with the weather. You stay here in case Kat gets frightened. It's a wonder that Jonathon hasn't woken up, what with all this racket." With that, he walked quickly out the door and strode up to the deck.  
  
Elizabeth stroked the hair from her child's eyes, then feeling that something was very wrong, raced out after Will.  
  
As soon as her mother had left, Katheryne jumped out of bed, tiptoed over to her older brother's room, and gently knocked on the door. At his annoyed, "Come in," she walked into the room. "Jon, you're supposed to be asleep!" she cried, outraged at the sight of his snuffer poised over a lit lamp, book in hand.  
  
Jonathon shut his book. "There's no fooling you, is there, sis?" Feeling somewhat foolish being caught staying up late, he sighed and placed the snuffer on his nightstand. "Why are you awake?" he inquired, puzzled.  
  
"It's a long story. To make it short, let's just say that I had a bad dream, and there's a huge storm. Don't worry," she added, "I won't tell Mum and Dad you stayed up." The ship tilted, spilling both children onto the floor.  
  
Pulling his sister to her feet, Jonathon hastily blew out his lamp and stumbled out into the hall. "I think we've hit something! I'm going to see what happened. Come on!"  
  
On the deck of the _Bootstrap Bill_, Jon and Kat were nearly blown off their feet by a fierce wind. The deck tilted again and the pair was flung sideways to the edge of the deck.  
  
Will desperately hauled at the helm, but it spun against him, slapping his hands away, then halting as the air filled with a grinding noise. The ship jerked, shuddered, bucked, then stopped so abruptly that he went flying back into a mast. Elizabeth rushed to help him up. Glancing wildly around for his children, he found them in a tangled heap against the railing of the ship. As Elizabeth nervously herded Jon and Kat back to their rooms, Will pictured a mother hen fussing over her chicks and grinned.  
  
Katheryne glanced back. "Daddy, what happened?"  
  
Not wishing to alarm his daughter, or wife, for that matter, Will answered, "I don't know. We'll wait until this storm dies down to find out. Now, go to sleep."  
  
Jon followed his father out into the storm and down into the hold, where five planks had been ripped away in the inner hull, compliments of the old cannons that were kept down there, as of yet unused. "What happened? And don't say that you don't know. I'm old enough to know the truth about danger."  
  
Will sighed, wishing that his son were not so much like himself. "We hit a reef. It's just a good thing that the outer hull wasn't damaged."  
  
"That we know of," Jon retorted pointedly. "Can we fix her?"  
  
Will snorted indignantly. "Can we fix her? Son, I built this ship with my own two hands, and I know every inch of her; every plank, masthead, and rivet. Of course we can fix her. Not until tomorrow, though. We'll wait until the storm is over."  
  
Jon nodded, then gave a tremendous yawn.  
  
Will smiled and suggested, "Maybe you should go to bed." Then, after a moment's pause, he added, "Maybe you should go to bed when your mother and I tell you to."  
  
Jon blushed. "How did you-"  
  
Will's mouth quirked up in an ironic grin. "I did the same thing when I was your age."  
  
The next morning dawned clear and blue, without any trace of the storm from the night before, revealing a small island. It also revealed a long gash in the outer hull of the _Bootstrap Bill_, just above the waterline.  
  
Jon leaned over the railing of the deck and gave a low whistle of dismay. "Hey, Dad, I think you'd better look at this."  
  
Will walked out onto the deck, stretching and yawning. He paused mid-stretch, and his arms fell to his sides as he saw the gaping tear in the side of his ship. His eyes grew even bigger when he went into the hold and found himself occupied with bailing out knee-deep seawater, all the while cursing under his breath. Will bent over to bail out more water and came up hard against the side of a cannon- one that hadn't been there before. He let loose with a colourful string of oaths and curses, then looked up as a lazy voice drawled, "You know, mate, you can yell all you want, but that cannon'll never answer you."  
  
The speaker soon found himself smashed against the hull and dangling several inches off of the deck. "I'm not quite sure-"  
  
"-that you deserved that," Will finished, trying to maintain an angry face, but failing. "I've got two questions for you, Jack Sparrow. One, why are you here, and two, how in the name of heaven did you get onto my ship?"  
  
Jack grinned cockily. "You see, one, we were just in the area when you dropped in, and two, you had a nice convenient door that I couldn't resist using." He gestured at the hole and a small rowboat tied up to it. "Nice ship. Build her yourself?"  
  
Will nodded. "That still doesn't explain why you just decided to sneak aboard."  
  
"Can't I even surprise an old friend? If that's the way you feel, then I can just leave- once you put me down, that is."  
  
Will released his grip on the pirate's collar and broke into laughing. "You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you. You're as witty as ever."  
  
Jack smirked. "And you're as stupid as ever. Nice planning, if I may say so. You're washed up on a coral reef, and you managed to pick the reef closest to Isla de Muerta."  
  
Will's grin faded quicker than lightning. "What?"  
  
"You heard me. The cursed island. Don't believe me, do you? Well, then, see for yourself." Swaggering over to the hole, Jack jerked a thumb at the lush, green island less than a mile away: an island with a watery cave and high cliffs. "Recognise that?" Seeing Will's open-mouthed stare, he patted him on the back. "Will Turner, welcome to Memory Island. I'll be hung for a fool is that coin of yours isn't still in there. Ah, by the way, when were you planning to introduce me to these two fine people?"  
  
Will spun to see his children staring suspiciously at Jack. "Children, this is my old friend, Jack Sparrow. Jack, this is my son, Jonathon, and this little lady is my daughter, Katheryne."  
  
Jack shook Jon's hand heartily, then frowned as Katheryne piped up.  
  
"I'm not a little lady, Dad. Jack, don't listen to a word my father says about me, because it's not true. I'm as much a pirate as you are. The only reason I'm wearing this stupid dress is because my mother is making me wear it. If I didn't have to wear a gown, I'd be helping Dad up on deck. And the name is Kat. I hate being called Katheryne, and he hates being called Jonathon; he's Jon."  
  
Jack smiled at this tirade and swept into a deep bow. "My deepest apologies, Pirate Kat. I'll try to remember that in the future." Facing Jon he said, "Well, young man, you look just like your father, if I may be so bold. Though, I must say that you have your grandfather's eyes; a little more adventurous than Will's."  
  
A voice came floating down from the deck. "Will, what's going on down there? Are you all right?"  
  
Rolling his eyes, Will shouted back, "I'm fine, Elizabeth. You might want to come down, though. There's someone who wants to see you."  
  
"Wants to see me? Who is it?"  
  
"Let's just say that he wants to remain nameless," Jack called.  
  
Soon, Elizabeth descended the steps into the hold and stared at Jack. "Jack Sparrow, you will never cease to amaze me. How in the world did you…I see." She glanced at the breach in the hull, her eyes also taking in the rowboat just beyond. "So, it was too hard for you to come over here and board like a gentleman?"  
  
"You know me. I'm not a gentleman, I'm a pirate. And Will, I don't believe that you've ever told me the name of this dream of yours." Jack patted the hull of the ship fondly.  
  
"I call her the _Bootstrap Bill_," Will answered. "Or _Bootstrap_ for short."  
  
"Ah. After your father, no doubt. Well, now that we all know each other, what say you to a little visit on the _Pearl_?"  
  
Kat squealed in delight. "Oooh. You mean that the _Black Pearl_ is real? I thought that Daddy was only telling a story. Was it really haunted? Was it really captained by the evilest man alive, and crewed by skeletons?"  
  
Jack held up a hand. "To answer your questions, yes, yes, and yes."  
  
As the group climbed out of the hold, Will asked, "Why are you here? You said you were in the area, but why?"  
  
"Well, it's quite simple, isn't it? The gold's still there."  
  
"How will you tell if it's cursed?" Will asked dubiously.   
  
"We'll wait until it's dark, then we'll get the treasure. There'll be a full moon tonight, so if we don't turn into bones, the gold's safe. If we do, well, then, we do. That's why I came over here."  
  
"So that's what I am now? A fail-safe against the curse? I think that regaining the _Pearl_ has quite gone to your head if you think I'm going to listen to your delusional chatter." Will spun and stalked angrily out of the hold. 


End file.
